1939 Australia Ten Shillings - E98 84

This note is in fantastic condition with only the one centre fold. It is clean and fresh in appearance and has no pin holes. The edges are solid as well

A super investment note and one that will gain steadily in value.

Please see the pictures to be best judge of this stunning banknote and grade it for yourself.

The 10/- banknote was first issued in 1913 as a blue banknote payable in gold. It was equal to a half sovereign gold coin. The sizes varied but the design was the same for the following issues: 1913-1914 issue was 194×83mm, 1915-1923 197×88 mm, 1923-1933 180×78mm. This issue was payable in gold but subsequent issues were legal tender. Last banknote issue had a print of 557,548,000 banknotes. It was succeeeded by the one dollar banknote.

Australia returned to the gold standard in 1925 in conjunction with the United Kingdom and South Africa. As in the case of the United Kingdom, there was no return to a Gold Specie Standard, but rather the introduction of a gold bullion standard. This once again formally locked the pound in Australia to parity with the pound in the United Kingdom. During the period between 1914 and 1925, the telegraphic money transfers between London and Australia had deviated somewhat from parity, but at that time, it was merely seen as a temporary hitch due to the emergency and the suspension of the gold standard. Nobody considered the Australian pound as such to be a separate currency from sterling. However, in 1929 the Great depression occurred, and the raw producing nations in the southern hemisphere, such as Argentina, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand were the first to feel the effects. The Australian banks that controlled the exchanges with London began to sell the Australian unit at a discount in order to increase the competitiveness of their exports to London. The gold standard in Australia was simultaneously abandoned and the Australian pound was now at a 25% discount to the pound sterling.

When the United Kingdom itself then abandoned the gold standard in 1931, this opened up certain questions for the first time. What does an Australian pound mean if it is not connected to gold? It was decided after 1931 to formally peg the Australian pound at a fixed 25% discount to the pound sterling and to define it as just that. Hence, the Australian pound maintained its close connection with the pound sterling and when the second world war broke out in 1939, Australia joined the sterling area which was an emergency wartime measure designed to protect the pound sterling's external value, principally against the US dollar.

In 1966, the Australian pound was decimalized at a rate of two new Australian dollars. When the pound sterling was devalued in 1967, the Australian unit did not follow suit but continued to peg to sterling at a new fixed rate. In 1971 Australia changed its peg to the US dollar and in June 1972, the sterling area as an exchange control area was shrunk to include only the British Isles. In September 1972, Australia responded by amending its own exchange control legislation accordingly, and with the floating of the British unit, which began in June 1972, all former connection between the two currencies had effectively come to an end.

*All biographical information taken from Wikipedia for educational purposes only

Noteworthy Collectibles is a reseller of banknotes, coins and collectible items from Australia and around the world. Rare and hard to find items in all categories. We offer silver and gold coins from Perth Mint and Royal Australian Mint as well as postage stamps, antique maps and lapel pins.